Load wing attachment for bulldozer blade



April 10, 1962 A. w. SCHMITT 3,028,698

LOAD WING ATTACHMENT FOR BULLDOZER BLADE Filed May 11, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. fl/vn/o/vy m LSCl-IM/ Tr April 10, 1962 A. w. SCHMITT LOAD WING ATTACHMENT FOR BULLDOZER BLADE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 E6 30 Filed May 11, 1959 INVENTOR. fl/vr/m/vy 74 fia/M/rr MM w/mu flrraelvsys.

April 10, 1962 A. w. SCHMITT 3,028,698

LOAD WING ATTACHMENT FOR BULLDOZER BLADE Filed May 11, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 J "190 2 '32 I 40 87 I I BYZAAM, fd/ma/ 147 TOIQNE Y5 United States Patent 3,028,698 Patented Apr. 10, 1962 [ice 3,028,698 LOAD WING ATTACHMENT FOR BULLDOZER BLADE Anthony W. Schmitt, Los Angeles, Calif. (13411 Anawood Way, Westminster, Calif.) Filed May 11, 1959, Ser. No. 812,205 6 Claims. (Cl. 37-144) The present invention relates to earth moving machines of the type generally known as bulldozers which cornprise a tractor having a generally transverse blade mounted at its front, and it relates more particularly to load wings adapted to be attached at the side edges of a conventional bulldozer blade, forming extensions projecting forwardly and outwardly from the blade to increase the capacity and improve the performance of the bulldozer.

The most common type of bulldozer blade is straight from one side edge to the other, out is concave between its bottom and top edges so that in operation the lower cutting edge will scoop up a continuous layer of earth, which will be rolled forward by the concavity of the blade. It is conventional practice to mount a separate cutting edge and end bits along the bottom edge of the bulldozer blade, and it is also frequent practice to block olt the concavity of the blade at the sides by suitable side plates. This conventional type of bulldozer blade permits a large amount of dirt spillage out of its side edges during operation, leaving burms or dirt ridges at the sides. This loss of dirt at the sides of the blade causes a substantial loss in operating efiiciency as compared with the the oretical performance if this earth could be retained forward of the bulldozer blade. Also, the burms or ridges left at the sides of the conventional bulldozer blade substantially interfere with the operation of the bulldozer during successive passes over the same general area.

One prior art attempt to improve bulldozer performance was the provision of a U-shaped blade having substantially the same width as the conventional bulldozer blade, but having a relatively narrow central section and side blade sections extending forwardly of the transverse central section at an angle of approximately 25 degrees. This U-type bulldozer blade is sometimes provided as original equipment from the factory, and is also sometimes applied as a separate attachment which is expensive and difiicult to mount.

This U-type bulldozer only adds slightly to the total volume of earth which can be accumulated on any one pass. At the same time, the U-type bulldozer has several disadvantages. Thus, where a relatively small load is being moved by the blade, this load does not spread out over the entire width of the blade, but concentrates at the center. This results in a narrow concentration of earth in the fill, sometimes resulting in the tracks of the bulldozer running off of the ground at the sides of this narrow mound in the fill. Also, the U-type bulldozer blade produces an undesirably large side draft when the ground is sloping, as on a hillside.

In view of these and other problems in the art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a load wing attachment for the side edges of a conventional bulldozer blade which combines the advantages of the straight transverse bulldozer blade with a greatly increased load capacity and with a substantial reduction in the spillage of earth out of the side edges of the bulldozer blade.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a load wing attachment for the side edges of a bulldozer blade which is simple and sturdy in construction, and which can be quickly and easily attached to or removed from the side edges of a conventional bulldozer blade.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear during the course of the following part of this specification wherein the details of construction and mode of operation of a preferred embodiment are described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of a conventional bulldozer employing the present invention.

FIGURE 2. is a top plan view of the bulldozer shown in FIGURE '1 further illustrating the load wing a tachrnent members of the present invention operatively mounted on a conventional bulldozer.

FIGURE 3 is a fractional front elevation view illustrating one end of the bulldozer blade and the load wing attached thereto. I

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view, along the line 4-4 in FIGURE 3, illustrating details of construction of the upper portion of the load wing and the manner of attachment of the upper portion of the load wing to the bulldozer.

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal section along the line 55 in FIGURE 3 illustrating details of construction of the lower portion of the load wing and the manner in which this portion of the load wing is attached to the bulldozer blade.

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 5, but with the load wing separated from the bulldozer blade.

FIGURE 7 is a vertical section along the line 7-7 in FIGURE 2, illustrating-some of the details of construction of the bulldozer blade mounting, and also illustrating the load wing attachment mounting.

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fractional vertical section along the line 8--8 in FIGURE 4, further illustrating a portion of the upper load wing mounting structure.

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fractional vertical section along the line 9-9 in FIGURE 4 showing the attachment of a supplemental top brace member to the bulldozer.

FIGURE 10 is an enlarged fractional vertical section along the line 1(l-1t) in FIGURE 5 further illustrating the attachment of the lower portion of the load wing to the bulldozer.

Referring to the drawings, the conventional'bulldozer It) comprises a tractor 12 having a pair of main bull- The bulldozer blade 18 illustrated in the drawings com prises a conventional blade'that is straight in a transverse direction from side to side, having a continuous curve from the bottom edge to the top edge to provide a forwardly facing concavity.

Although bulldozer blades of this conventional type are mounted in a number of different ways, the mounting structure illustrated includes a transverse, horizontal upper plate 20 integrally attached to the back surface of the blade 18, a similar lower transverse horizontal plate 22 integrally attached to the back surface of the blade 18, a vertical transverse back-up plate 24 disposed to the rear of blade 18 and integrally attached at its upper end to the plate 20 and at its lower end to the plate 22, and one or more suitable reinforcing brace members 26 operatively connected between the blade 18 and the vertical back-up plate 24.

A pair of vertical pad eyes 28 are integrally attached to the rear surface of the back-up plate 24 near the sides thereof, pad eyes 28 each comprising a pair of vertically disposed, parallel bracket members. The forward end of each of the main bulldozer arms 14 is attached to a pad eye 28 by means of a suitable pivot pin 39.

The bulldozer blade is further supported by a pair of tubular push beams 32 at the respective sides of the bulldozer, each of these beams 32 having a tongue 34 at its. rear end that is pivotally engaged to a pad eye 36 mounted on the respective main bulldozer arm 14 by means of a pivot pin 38. The front end of each push beam 32 is operatively connected to the blade supporting structure by a mounting member 48 that is integrally attached to the upper horizontal plate 20 and the back-up plate 24, the attachment of the beam 32 in mounting member 49 usually being of the ball joint type.

A pair of spaced inner brace members 42 are also operatively connected at their rear ends to respective pad eyes 44 on main bulldozer arms 14 by respective pivot pins 46, the inner braces 42 being operatively connected at their forward ends to the blade back-up structure by respective mounting members 48.

The bulldozer blade is vertically movable by means of a cable hoist mechanism 50, both cable and hydraulic blade elevation control devices commonly being employed.

A separate transverse cutting edge member 52 is mounted along the lower edge of the blades 18 on the forward surface thereof by means of a plurality of bolts 54. If desired, separate end bit members (not shown) may be provided to give added strength to the cutting edge at the ends where the most wear occurs.

Side plates 56 are integrally attached to the side edges of the blade 18, substantially blocking the concavity of the blade at its side edges. However, many bulldozer blades are not provided with such side plates, being open at the sides. Suitable reinforcing patches 58 may be integrally attached to the outer surfaces of the side plates 56 near the bottoms thereof to accommodate the excessive wear at this area.

It is to be understood that the conventional bulldozer structure hereinabove described is only one of numerous conventional bulldozer forms to which the present invention applies.

The present invention comprises a pair of load wings 68 adapted to be removably mounted at the respective side edges of the bulldozer blade. Each of the load wings 60 includes a mold board or blade member 62 which is generally contoured along its inner edge to fit the main bulldozer blade or side plates. Thus, between its bottom and top edges, the mold board 62 may be straight, curved or in several sections disposed at different angles, as required. For example, the mold board 62 illustrated in the drawings has a central section 64, and relatively narrow upper and lower sections 66 and 68, respectively, which tilt forwardly at slight angles relative to the central section 64. By this means, the inner side edge of the mold board 62 will fit flush against or just slightly over the leading edge of the blade side plate 56, with the lower section 68 of the mold board 62 slanting over the corner edge of the bulldozer blade cutting edge member 52 as best shown in FIGURES 4 and 5.

A corner bit 78 is bolted to the lower mold board section 68 by a plurality of spaced bolts 72, and the inner end of bit 70 rests generally flush against the forward surface of the bulldozer blade cutting edge member 52, also as best shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. By this means, much of the force against the corner bit 70 during operation will be backed up directly by the cutting edge member 52 of the main bulldozer blade.

I prefer to provide a load wing side plate member that is generally similar in construction to the main bulldozer blade side plate 56, the load Wing side plate 74 preferably being welded to the outer edge of the mold board member 62. A suitable reinforcing patch 76 may be integrally attached to the outer surface of side plate 74 near its bottom, if desired.

The mold board or blade 62 of the load wing 60 preferably extends forwardly and outwardly from the bulldozer blade or the side plate of the bulldozer blade at an angle of about 45 degrees from the transverse disposition of the bulldozer blade. Although the width of the meld board 62 is not in any way critical, I have found in practice that for a bulldozer blade with about 12 feet in width, a satisfactory width for mold board 62 is about inches along the angle of about 45 degrees from the main bulldozer blade. This would cause the mold board 62 to project out transversely about 10 inches from the bulldozer blade, and also to project forwardly about 10 inches from the bulldozer blade.

I have found in practice that with size relationships on this general order between the main bulldozer blade and the load wing mold boards, the load capacity is increased in the range of from about 25 to about 50 percent over the original load capacity of the bulldozer blade. Also, there is very little side spillage, and burms or side ridges are practically eliminated with the use of my load wings, the wings folding the dirt inwardly toward the center of the blade rather than permitting it to spill outwardly. Where relatively small loads are being moved, these loads are spread over the entire width of the bulldozer blade and not centrally concentrated as with the U-type of bulldozer blade. Also, my present load wings do not cause objectional side draft when the bulldozer is used on a slant or hillside as with the U- type bulldozer. Although both of my load wing attachments are employed for most purposes, it may be desirable for some uses to use only one of my load wings.

Referring now to my presently preferred means for mounting the load windings at the side edges of the bulldozer blade, each load wing 60 is provided with an upper horizontal mounting plate 78 and a lower horizontal mounting plate 80, plates 78 and 80 having leading edges which are integrally attached, as by welding, to the rear surface of mold board 62. A primary vertical brace plate 82 is integrally attached near its lower end to the lower horizontal mounting plate 80 and near its upper end to the upper horizontal mounting plate 78. The primary brace plate 82 may extend somewhat below the lower horizontal plate 80 and somewhat above the upper horizontal plate 78, if desired. The primary vertical brace plate 82 is integrally attached at its forward end, as by welding, to the back surface of the mold board 62, extending rearwardly and inwardly therefrom.

An intermediate vertical cross brace 84, best shown in FIGURE 5, is operatively connected at its outer edge to the primary vertical brace plate 82 and at its inner edge of the back surface of mold board 62 near its inner edge.

If desired, a forward portion of the lower horizontal mounting plate 80 may overlap the cutting edge member 52 of the main bulldozer blade for added support, and the top of the cutting edge member 52 at its end may be ground down to provide a suitable horizontal bearing surface for this purpose.

A rear transverse vertical plate 86 is integrally attached at its lower edge to the lower horizontal mounting plate 80 and extends upwardly therefrom, being integrally attached near its upper end to the upper horizontal mounting plate 78, and extending somewhat above the upper mounting plate if desired. It is to be noted that the rear transverse vertical plate 86 extends inwardly from the primary vertical brace plate 82 just behind the rear surface of the vertical back-up plate 24 of the main bulldozer blade.

Referring now to the specific structure which permits the upper portion of load wing 60 to be attached to the bulldozer blade assembly, the primary vertical brace plate 82 is provided with a rearwardly extending upper ear 87, best shown in FIGURES 4 and 8, and an upper vertical bracket member 88 is integrally attached to the rear of the ear 87, the bracket member 88 depending below upper horizontal mounting plate 78. A horizontal bracket member 90 is integrally attached to the vertical bracket member 88 and to the ear 87, and is spaced somewhat below a transverse extension 92 of the upper horizontal mounting plate 78. Aligned openings 94 and 96 are provided in the respective parallel members 82 and 99 whereby the members 92 and 90 form a pad eye to receive a mounting tongue 97 integrally attached to and extending rearwardly from the back structure of the bulldozer blade. The mounting tongue 97 is preferably formed as an intergral rearward extension of the bulldozer blade plate 29 the tongue being provided with an opening 98, whereby pin 1136 may be dropped through the openings 94, 98 and 96 to securely attach the upper portion of the load wing 66 to the rear of the bulldozer blade.

Referring now to the lower portion of the load wing 60, a rearwardly extending lower ear 102 is provided on the primary vertical brace plate 82, with a vertical, transverse bracket member 164 being integrally attached to the rear edge of the lower ear 162. A horizontal bracket member 196 extends forwardly from the bottom edge of the vertical bracket member 104, and is spaced below and parallel to a transverse extension 108 of the lower horizontal mounting plate 80. The members 1118 and 196 are provided with respective aligned openings 110 and 112, so that the members 168 and 106 together form a pad eye that is adapted to receive a horizontal mounting tongue 114 integrally attached to and extending rearwardly from the back of the bulldozer blade assembly. The mounting tongue 114 preferably comprises an extension of the lower horizontal bulldozer blade support plate 22, and is provided with a vertical opening 116, whereby pin 118 may be dropped down through openings 110, 116 and 112 to join the lower part of the load wing 69 to the bulldozer blade assembly.

I prefer to also employ a supplemental top brace member 120, which comprises a generally horizontally disposed plate. The brace member 120 is operatively connected at its edge 122 as by welding to the back surface of the mold board 62. A pair of vertically spaced, parallel horizontal bracket members 124 and 126 are integrally mounted on vertical support members 128, 131) and 132, which are welded or otherwise integrally attached to the top of the upper horizontal bulldozer blade plate 20, as best shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 9. Vertical openings 134, 1.36 and 138 are provided in the respective members 124, 120 and 126 to receive a vertical pin 1411, thus removably operatively connecting the inner, rear end of brace member 1211 to the top of the bulldozer blade assembly.

In order to hold the load Wing 60 in a fixed, stable angular position mounted to the bulldozer blade assembly, regardless of how heavy the load against the wing 60 may be, a push beam 142 is operatively connected between the main bulldozer arm 14 and the load wing 60. Push beam 142 is provided with a vertically arranged rear tongue 144 that is operatively engaged in pad eye 146 mounted on the main bulldozer arm 14, with a suitable pin 148 engaging pad eye 146 and tongue 144. A similar forward tongue 1541* is provided on push beam 142, and engages within pad eye 152, being held in place by a suitable pin 154.

It will thus be seen that the conventional bulldozer blade assembly may be quickly and easily adapted for the removable mounting of the present load wing 60 by welding or otherwise integrally attaching four pad eyes to the blade assembly and one pad eye to the main bulldozer arm, at each side of the bulldozer. Then, all that is required to removably mount one of the load wings on a side edge of the bulldozer blade assembly is to merely place it in position and insert five pins in the openings provided, namely, pins 160, 118, 140, 148 and 154. The

load wing 61 can be removed by merely disengaging these five pins.

While the instant invention has been shown and described herein, in what is conceived to be the most pracing plates being substantially horizontal and being integral-.

1y attached at their forward edges to said mold board, each of said mounting plates having a portion which extends laterally inwardly behind the bulldozer blade, upper and lower rearwardly projecting members integrally attached to the rear of the bulldozer blade, and means for removably attaching the respective laterally extending portions or" said upper and lower mounting plates to said rearwardly projecting members on the bulldozer blade so as to fixedly mount the load wing attachment on the blade,

said mold board member in its attached position having its inner edge disposed adjacent to a side edge of the bulldozer blade with the mold board member extending forwardly and outwardly from the sideedge of the'bulldozer blade.

2. The load wing attachment of claim 1 in which a substantially vertical brace plate is integrally attached at its forwardedge to said mold board and extends rearwardly between said upper and lower mounting plates, being integrally attached to both of said mounting plates.

3. The load wing attachment of claim 1 in which said attaching means comprises pins operatively engageable between the respective said laterally extending portions of said upper and lower mounting plates and said rearwardly projecting members on the bulldozer blade.

4. The load wing attachment of claim 1 which includes a push beam operatively connectable at its forward end to the load wing and at its rear end to a main bulldozer blade support arm.

5. The load wing attachment of claiml in which a lower portion of the inner edge of the mold board member extends inwardly over the bottom corner of the bulldozer blade when the load wing attachment is connected to the bulldozer blade, whereby the lower edge of the mold board will be held against rearward movement in operation by the bottom corner of the bulldozer blade.

6. The load wing attachment of claim 1 in which the mold board member extends forwardly and outwardly at an angle of about 45 degrees relative to the bulldozer blade when the load wing attachment is connected to the bulldozerblade.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

